82 cruelty charges filed in Cochecton animal case

Saturday

Aug 25, 2007 at 2:00 AM

Cochecton — Since her house burned to the ground last year, Gloria Smith has kept dozens of cats in small wire cages on her property. At first, she stacked them under a blue tarp in the backyard, but since the winter, they've been in the cellar.

Victor Whitman

Cochecton — Since her house burned to the ground last year, Gloria Smith has kept dozens of cats in small wire cages on her property.

At first, she stacked them under a blue tarp in the backyard, but since the winter, they've been in the cellar.

Dozens of dogs and cats were killed in last year's fire. At the time, authorities could find no reason to remove her nearly 200 surviving dogs and cats.

Yesterday, though, deputies came with a court order to seize 82 cats in response to a cruelty complaint. Animal neglect charges are pending, deputies say.

Smith, who had been at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla since Sunday, checked herself out yesterday after learning that deputies had come to take her cats.

With EKG leads attached to her chest, Smith drove up just before the deputies took the first lot of 10 cats out of the cellar.

She parked, closed the door of her SUV and started yelling at one of her two kennel attendants, and pointing her finger at Sullivan County sheriff's Deputy Debra Hall, an animal cruelty investigator.

Cats were pacing, licking their paws, or lying down on urine-soaked newspapers in the cages. One black-and-tan-colored cat had lost most of its hair around the tail and legs. Its remaining hair was matted and soaked with grime. Three cats were taken to a vet for evaluation.

"What's wrong with them?" Hall told Smith. "Urine. Feces. Disease."

Smith's private shelter is called Bennie's Buddies. She says she gets money from three wealthy benefactors from New York City. After last year's fire, she spent thousands of dollars on a tombstone with the engraved names of 19 dead dogs.

Smith has long been accused by neighbors of being an animal hoarder, and has fought the Town of Cochecton for years. Town officials say her shelter breaks the kennel law. In May, the town taped a violation notice to a tree at the front of her driveway.

"I have always feared this day, if I got sick," Smith said, walking toward the cellar. "What would happen? What would happen?"

It is unclear what will happen to Smith's 60 dogs. They live in outside kennels, and in four campers and one trailer on the property at 107 Pinewood Road.

It is also unclear what will happen to most of the cats. Deputies couldn't find a place to put them. Bethel's animal control officer took 10 cats.

The SPCA tentatively agreed to take 30. The Town of Liberty, where the county takes seized and stray dogs, refused to take the cats.

Smith was charged with 82 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and issued an appearance ticket for Town of Cochecton Court.